Manny Pacquiao, a national hero?

Make no mistake, Manny Pacquiao will be among the boxing world's legends. He beat the crap out of the top two Mexican boxing icons and cleaned the featherweight division of pretenders to the throne. A sports hero, yes. But a national hero? Tsk tsk

The world's most successful stock picker, Warren Buffett, once said: "If you tell me who your heroes are, I can tell you how you'll end up." Why do we not make heroes out of the drivers of our economy, like Jollibee's Tony Tancaktiong (we're the only country in the world where McDo is not the number one fastfood franchise) or Henry Sy (founder of biggest malls in the region) or Ayala (the renowned world-class real estate developer and who introduced the ubiquitous Globe Telecom to rival the once monopolist PLDT)?

Let's put Manny Pacquiao in his rightful place: A Sports Hero, somebody who's very good in the hurt business.

Comments

In all fairness, we're a nation of below-the-poverty line people. People need to "see". We're also a very chauvinistic society, and boxing is a macho sport.

I don't really mind Manny Pacquiao being a national hero. He did well for himself, and he was very vocal about doing it "for the people".

Yes, I will consider him a hero. And the term National Hero is very subjective nowadays. BUT, if you're saying we should put him in the same pedestal as Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, or even Jose Diokno, then that's another story which I will viciously argue.

Chill. In Japan, Antonio Inoki is a wrestler and is considered as a national hero. The great contribution he did for the country was lying down--which resembles the receiving end of a missionary position--while kicking Muhammad Ali's legs throughout their match.

Not that I disrespect Inoki-sama, but what he did was an effective defensive position w/c is called the open guard.

Regarding our taipans and tycoons, it's very difficult to label them as heroes because some of them have a nasty reputation of shutting down legitimate trade unions and of overworking their employees.

Not to mention that Jollibee workers are on minimum wage and no benefits. Henry Sy is destroying what's left of the landscape by building those oh-so-ugly malls. Not exactly environmentally-friendly...

if there is one real hero, that will be Capt. Aniano Amatong, the pilot of that OV-10 Bronco plane who opted to sacrifice himself to save many lives that might suffer when his plane crashes in a thickly populated area.

if there is one real hero, that will be Capt. Aniano Amatong, the pilot of that OV-10 Bronco plane who opted to sacrifice himself to save many lives that might suffer when his plane crashes in a thickly populated area.

Great Sports Athletes have always been made HEROES in their homeland, especially if their achievements have united their country as one.

Nadia Comaneci (Gymnast) - recognized as a hero in Romania.

Pele (Soccer) - recognized as a hero in Brazil.

Heck, even Fernando Alonso is being hailed as a hero in Spain.

The word "National" that comes before the word "Hero" - is subjective. National Hero means different things to different people, but only Congress (I think) can officially declare a person as a National Hero on the same category as Rizal.

Si Pacman mismo sabi niya eh ayaw niyang maging boksingero ang mga anak niya. So kung ayaw niyang mag-boxing ang anak niya, how can he inspire other people to take up boxing and follow his footsteps?

Again, facing off Morales, Marquez, and Barrera, is a career path plotted by his business managers and promoters. Pacman has to face them whether he likes it or not. IT'S BUSINESS.

"Hero" is a BIG WORD. Authentic heroes give so much to their fellowman and getting nothing in return. Pacman uplifted the spirit of the Filipino no doubt, and he was paid $2 million in doing so. Pacman is a professional boxer, let's not forget about that.

Symbolic heroes are convenient creations or inventions. Oh yes, people invent and create their own heroes for a thousand and two reasons, from personal and collective to weird. Boxer Manny Pacquiao falls under that category of symbolic heroes, just like Lea Salonga and Precious Lara and the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs, particularly domestic helpers murdered, abused and waiting to be executed). Oh no, Im not a KJ (kill joy), as a classmate chided me, when I was simply commenting how mixed and confused our values are today that even a boxer, whose victory consisted of beating an opponent to unconsciousness or to bleeding almost to death, be considered a hero. But of course, when people are hungry and depressed, momentary delight and euphoria over a much sought victory  any victory for that matter  is enough to fill in even the lowest bracket of Maslows pyramid of human needs.

A friend volunteered the information that during the period of American economic depression, a boxer named Jim Braddock unexpectedly defeated favorite German boxer Max Bauer. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared him as a modern American hero. At least the boxer filled in a few meals among the hungry Americans, who were longing for some form of victory amid a sea of defeat drowning their economy with poverty and want. Sweet revenge is the essence of Pacquiaos victory, since it was just a rematch; Erik Morales had it first. But sweet revenge is always an underdogs ecstasy, especially for the Philippines, one of the last remaining global underdogs.

I almost hated boxing. It was my dads second job. We were five brothers and a sister, perfect for my dads intended legacy he was about to pass on to us. He taught us how to punch and hurt. And barrio fiestas, among other occasions would be the best venue and opportunity at cracking our luck by cracking other young peoples jaws. My two other brothers punched better and would bring home more trophies and cash  me, well, I always kiss the canvass more often than embrace the opponent. Besides, being boys aged 13 to 16, there are more fistfights outside the ring, where things could be settled without the referees watch. That was how I was introduced to violence early in my teens.

For me, boxing remains nothing but violence. In fact, even up to this time, moral ethicists are still looking for moral justification for boxing, which in Christian moral studies falls under the category of prize  fighting and the overall moral assessment of gambling which always accompanies prize  fighting contests. (Didnt we see more gamblers than patriots or fanatics surrounding Pacquiao at the gambling city in Las Vegas)? Some moralists would pejoratively call it glorified barbarism or gladiatorism.

So, please pardon me for being a kill joy; I would rather kill joy than kill other people by beating them to the pulp and call it heroism.

But we can dispense with this, even for a moment and allow our Filipino people to wallow in any victory at hand, at least enjoy the euphoria and our penchant for overkill by some lawmakers who are prodding the Congress to grant Pacquiao a congressional medal for valor and the government to declare Pacquiaos return to the country, a non-working holiday. We can even go farther with the Armed Forces of the Philippines request that victor Pacquiao would embark on a camp tour of the AFP to discourage the soldiers doing a Magdalo or an Oakwood. Why not go much farther and declare him to be the best alternative to the embattled resident of Malacañang!

But real heroes are not invented or created. They stream our past, present and future without even trying. Christina Tinay Bugayong, the poor 12-year-old girl from the squatters area in Quezon City already would know how much P300,000 is, but unhesitatingly returned the money to the rightful owner. That is a hero and she is real and for real. And more recently, Air Force Capt. Aniano Amatong, who steered a troubled plane out of the populated area in Pampanga crashed to death along with it in Paombong, Bulacan. These are the real heroes. We did not invent them. But where was the confetti, where are the motorcades, where are citations and nationwide coverage? Real heroes, they are the kind of stuff, the kind of people who are willing to risk their lives and limbs and even their family to brave the witness stand and confess to the electoral fraud or expose grandiose and gargantuan anomalies of graft and corruption in government. These are real, not symbolic, heroes.

There is no limit to our creativity and imagination, the psycho-sociological and patriotic search for heroes that would satisfy our longings even for a moment. But the only difficulty is when we can no longer distinguish clearly the difference between the symbolic and the real.

I think the problem is you have a narrow definition of the word "hero". If you look in the dictionary, a hero can be many things, one in particular is "A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life"... That in a way fits into what Pacquiao did.

At the same time, he did manage to unite the country and instill national pride once again - a feat last done by Ninoy Aquino (this was taken from an Inquirer article).

What Pacquiao did in that 10 rounds nobody else has done for a long, long, while.

So yes, he's a hero. And does it really matter if it was a title fight? Of course not, don't be silly. it's much deeper than that.